How to Loosen or Tighten Nuts and Bolts With the Wrong Size Wrench

I show how to tighten or loosen nuts and bolts when you don’t have the correct size wrench. When the wrench is too large for the nut or bolt you can use some coins or washers to fill the extra space between the nut or bolt and the wrench. Try to pick a wrench that is the closest size to the bolt and try different combinations of coins to get a snug fit. If the wrench is too small you can take a long nut and a bolt, screw the nut onto the bolt and tighten the bolt around the nut you want to tighten or loosen. You can also use shorter bolts and a small wrench for leverage. Although this can be useful for some applications I would not recommend using this to replace wrenches of correct sizes or use on motor vehicles.

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2 Discussions

Done the packing thing all my life, but never thought about the nut-and-bolt method. Good one. Stick a washer between nut and head-of-bolt-to-be-removed to increase contact surface. This mainly uses the open-ended spanner, but you can pack stuff inside the ring-spanner end to achieve the same effect, even the end of a screwdriver. The goal is the turning, not the elegance.

These simple but effective things are what drew me to Instructables in the first place, before cncs, 3d printers, laser cutters, arduinos, (none of which I have or can afford, or have the space for) and this was the first in a long time to be delivered to my inbox that did not require any of the above. I'd really like to filter what arrives in my mail to exclude such as the above. They've taken the fun out of Instructables for me.